Suite pop up gallery open on Oriental Parade - Wallace Finalists

We're pleased to announce that Suite pop up gallery will open for the first time this Sunday (22 August) at 108 Oriental Parade, Wellington, next to Café Vista and opposite Martin Bosley restaurant.   Modelled on the global "pop-up" phenomenon, our new temporary space will allow us to supplement existing exhibitions on at our Newtown base, and host projects that we wouldn't ordinarily be able to host.  

Suite pop up gallery is located in the building where 42 Below vodka got its start. The space has been completely renovated with a glass store front, angled walls and new lighting system to showcase the artworks day and night. The Pop Up page will be updated from time to time with details about what's on show there.

Congratulations to Ans Westra and Jennifer Mason who have been selected as finalists in the 2010 Wallace Art Awards.  The winner of the Awards will be announced in Auckland on 6 September.  

A reminder that Wayne Youle's exhibition It's The Simple Things finishes on Saturday 28 August.  Our next exhibition Capture by Jonathan Campbell and Ans Westra opens on Friday 3 September. 

 

18 August 10

 

It's The Simple Things - Public shows featuring Suite artists

Wayne Youle's exhibition It's the Simple Things is into its second week.  The show was profiled in the Dominion last Wednesday and ends on 28 August. 

 

 

 

Right:  Sticks and Stones (part of It's The Simple Things I) Wayne Youle, Oil on Linen, 320 x 320 mm, 2010.

Left: Big Wheel (part of The Illustrated History of Painting) Roger Boyce, Oil and acylic polymer on hardwood panel, 210 x 300 mm, 2008-10.

 

3 August 10

 

Media - Dear Trustable Partner - It's The Simple Things

Several of our artists have been in the media over the last few weeks.  Fiona Pardington's Auckland Festival of Photography exhibition was featured in The Listener.  Edition # 4 of Pilot Magazine features a cover shot by Carlo Van de Roer as well as a profile of his Portrait Machine Project.

 

Wayne Youle was profiled in the Capital Times following the announcement that he will spend three months in Wellington later this year as the Rita Angus Artist in Residence.  Congratulations to him and Kelly for the recent arrival of their second son.  Our next exhibition features 28 new oil paintings by Wayne Youle.  Titled It's The Simple Things, the show opens on Tuesday 27 July. 

 

Roger Boyce's Illustrated History of Painting was previewed in the Christchurch Star ahead of it going on show at the Christchurch Art Gallery from 13 August.   

 

Douglas Stichbury and Arie Hellendoorn's current exhibition Dear Trustable Partner finishes on 24 July.   

Left:  Morph Arie Hellendoorn, Oil on Linen, 640 x 800 mm, 2010.

Right: Soviet Shuttle Douglas Stichbury, 835 x 1015mm, 2010.

 

16 July 10

 

Youle scoops Rita Angus - Connew awarded third place @ PX3

Congratulations to Wayne Youle who will be the 2010 Rita Angus artist in residence.  In addition to the use of the Rita Angus cottage in Thorndon, Wellington Institute of Technology's School of Creative Technologies in partnership with Creative NZ has agreed to provide Wayne with access to cutting edge facilities and technologies, which include laser cutters and CNC machinery.  The residency will provide Wayne with the opportunity to dust off some of his more adventurous ideas. 

 

Congratulations also to Bruce Connew who has been awarded third Prize in The Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3) Annual Book category (Series Only) for I Must Behave. The jury selected PX3 2010's winners from thousands of photography entries from over 85 countries. 

 

Our current show, Capital Times, finishes on Saturday 26 June at 4pm.  Opening on Friday 2 July at 530pm is Dear Trustable Partner by Arie Hellendoorn and Douglas Stichbury.  The show includes some collaborative works as well as new solo paintings by each artist. 

 

If you're in Christchurch (or passing through this week) please stop off at Gallery O at the Arts Centre to see our exhibition of works by Wayne Youle, Roger Boyce, Callum Arnold, Simon Edwards and Marie-Clare Brehaut.  The exhibition opens on Tuesday at 5pm and ends on Monday 28 June - it will be open everyday from 10am -5pm. 

 

Above:  I Must Behave  Bruce Connew, Design: Catherine Griffiths & Connew, Typography: Catherine Griffiths.

Left:  Snake & Mongoose Arie Hellendoorn & Douglas Stichbury, Oil on canvas, 2010.

 

20 June 10

 

Q2 10 News - Fiona's record - Upcoming Exhibitions

Capital Times - our fifth exhibition of 2010 - ends on 26 June and features fifteen artworks that relate to the Wellington region.  The six Wellington based artists in the exhibition are Neil Pardington, Geoffrey Notman, Bob Kerr, Ans Westra, Barbara Strathdee and the winner of the 2010 COCA Anthony Harper Award, Ann Shelton.

 

On 18 May the sale of two of Fiona Pardington's works at Art + Object in Auckland attracted the highest price paid at auction for a photograph in New Zealand. The previous record of $30,000 was shattered when Fiona's Quai Branly suite of nine Heitiki realised $64,275, and her single image Ake Ake Huia sold for $30,385.  Photography has shed its reputation in New Zealand as the poorer cousin of painting.

 

Suite will present an exhibition in Christchurch at Gallery O, Christchurch Arts Centre from 22-28 June.  The exhibition features works by our Canterbury based artists:  Roger Boyce, Wayne Youle, Marie-Claire Brehaut, Simon Edwards and Callum Arnold.  All artists will attend the opening.

 

Next up is an exhibition of new (solo and collaborative) works by Douglas Stichbury and Arie Hellendoorn - Dear Trustable Partner, which opens on 2 July.  Following that are exhibitions by Wayne Youle, Jonathan Campbell and Ans Westra. The Exhibitions page has details of all upcoming shows for the remainder of the year.

 

Thanks for your ongoing support of Suite.  We're extremely proud of the exhibitions that we've presented to date and look forward to welcoming many more visitors to the gallery. A reminder that it's no problem to ship worldwide.

 

Above:  Porirua Mongrel Mob Convention 1982 Ans Westra, silver gelatin print.

Right:  Cray Pot:  An Aotearoan Grace Roger Boyce, Oil & acrylic polymer on hardwood panel, 2010.

 

 4 June 10

 

Capital Times on TV3's Nightline - Anton's Asphasia - Trilogy

Capital Times featured on TV3's Nightline last night ahead of the exhibition opening tomorrow at 530pm.  The clip showcased most of the exhibition works and included comments from Ans Westra and David Alsop.

 

Anton Parsons is due to arrive in the capital tonight ready to install Aphasia in the courtyard tomorrow.  He will give a talk tomorrow afternoon to Queen Margaret College students about his use of braile in artworks, and attend the Capital Times opening.  

 

Congratulations to Sarah and Catherine at Trilogy for winning the Wellington Gold Award last night.  Hooray!

 

20 May 10

 

Fiona Pardington interview with Kim Hill - Capital Times 

 

Community Garden featuring Robert Cherry opened at the Hirschfeld (Wellington City) Gallery on 7 May.  Cherry's work in the show, A Beautiful Day for Walking Away traces a line around the perimeter of the gallery floor.  The work is made from found plastic objects, which Cherry has gathered from a local beach, Evans Bay.  Community Garden ends on 20 June. 

 

Our next exhibition Capital Times features two guest artists, Ann Shelton and Bob Kerr.  The other artists in the show are Neil Pardington, Geoffrey Notman, Barbara Strathdee and Ans Westra.  Capital Times opens on Friday 21 May at 530pm.  The opening will also mark the installation of a large sculpture by Anton Parsons in the courtyard at Suite.  

 

Pictured:  Fiona Pardington Female Phrenology Bust: A study in gold from the collection of Musee de l'Homme, Paris, Pigment inks on hahnemule cotton rag, 2010. 

 

8 May 10

 

Rakapa on One News, One Late News and Te Kaea, Maori TV

 

Word is out that Eros & Agape includes a delightful Charles F Goldie painting of Rakapa, which is being offered for sale for the first time in 99 years. The Dominion Post included a small piece titled "Goldies for sale" on 22 April taking the number of times that Suite gallery has been written about in the Dominion Post to 4 times in 4 weeks. The Rakapa story was also covered on yesterdays One News, Te Kaea on Maori TV and One Late News, which featured an extended clip with comments from David Alsop. 

 

Victoria University Art History Senior Lecturer Roger Blackley commented favorably on One News that by way of "comparison, there are works in art galleries that have been scraped or they night have been varnished too often. This [Rakapa painting] is really in another category altogether. 

 

Eros & Agape runs until May 15 and we look forward to welcoming many more visitors to the gallery during the next few weeks.

 

24 April 10

 

Three from 3 in the Dom - Gabriel Heimler in Newtown

Suite featured in the Dominion today for the third time in as many weeks during Electric Water and the Portrait Machine Project. 

 

We have installed a mural work by Berlin based Paris born artist Gabriel Heimler.   The work has been erected on the exterior wall facing down Constable street, and certainly brightens up the Newtown asthetic.  Heimler has gone back-to-back with JJ Morgan & Co where another of his works has been unleashed.  We will celebrate the installation of our mural as part of the Eros & Agape opening on Friday 23 April at 530pm.  Heimler and his partner Anna Proc featured in the Dominion Post on April 17.

 

17 April 10

 

Roger Boyce @ CAG - I Shall Spit on Your Graves

Irene Ferguson's Electric Water and Carlo Van de Roer's Portrait Machine Project end this Saturday the 17^th of April at 430pm.  Both shows have received great support and we encourage those of you who haven't seen the exhibitions to do so this week. 

 

Mark Amery's Dominion Post review of both shows has now been published on the Big Idea website, and a large reproduction of Carlo Van de Roer's portrait of Taika Waititi graced the back page of the Dominion Post arts section last Thursday.  We've received an email from Invercargill mayoral candidate Suzanne Prentice who had heard that she is the Country Singer in Electric Water! 

 

Roger Boyce's Illustrated History of Painting will be shown at the Christchurch Art Gallery from 13 August - 14 November.  In this 100 painting series, Boyce reimagines the history of his chosen medium as a succession of outrageous stunts, tragicomic mishaps and wild endeavours. He takes satiric aim at everything from art criticism and abstract painting to the myth of the artist as hero.

 

We've lent several works by Jonathan Campbell and Wayne Youle to JJ Morgan & Co for I Shall Spit On Your Graves, which opens on 17 April.  Curated by Melanie Moreau, the show also features works by Andrea Du Chatenier, Peter Madden, Ricky Swallow and Ronnie Van Hout.  

 

Next week we will host ANZ Private Bank clients and Wellesley College students ahead of the opening of Eros & Agape by Fiona Pardington and Charles F. Goldie on Friday 23 April at 530pm. 

Pictured:  Charles F. Goldie, Silver Gelatin Print, signed 1937 and inscribed:  "To Dr E.B. Gunson, "Keep Happy" C.F.Goldie, Dec. 1938".  

 

12 April 10

 

Eros & Agape - 2 x Goldie - New opening hours - Happy Easter

Our third exhibition of 2010 - Irene Ferguson's Electric Water and Carlo Van de Roer's The Portrait Machine Project - opened last week.  

 

As many of you will have  already seen, both shows were reviewed in today's Dominion Post by Mark Amery:  "In this new exhibition, Ferguson steps away from being society portraitist and plays with the blur between figure and portrait.  With oil paint employed in a variety of ways, she explores the act of looking and how it affects how we view a figure  ... The work encourages you to question what we invest in art as real, no matter the medium."  

 

Our next exhibition - Eros & Agape - is Fiona Pardington's first show of new work shot recently in Paris.  The show also includes two works by Charles F. Goldie. The first, a silver gelatin print of Goldie's 1937 painting A Midsummers day, Maoriland, is signed and inscribed for a patron. The second artwork is an exquisite painting of Rakapa, an Arawa Chieftainess. 

Suite is honoured to bring this previously unseen Goldie painting to the market for the first time since 1911, following its acquisition by the vendor's grandmother directly from the artist. Eros & Agape is supported by Black Estate and is accompanied by a catalogue featuring an epic critical essay by Roger Boyce. 

Fourteen Suite artists currently have works on show in public spaces around Australasia. Marie-Clare Brehaut and Roger Boyce's collaborative work Nature Morte is on show at the Physics Room in Chrischurch - it will then tour to the Blue Oyster and JJ Morgan & Co. in Kilbirnie.  Douglas Stichbury has six paintings in Further Convictions Pending at the Hirschfeld Gallery (City Gallery) in Wellington. 

An Elspeth Shannon painting made the finals of the 2010 National Portrait Award and is on show at the National Portrait Gallery. Three of her paintings hang in the Crazy Horse Restaurant, as do two paintings by Arie Hellendoorn. Peter Trevelyan's impressive Mimetic Brotherhood is installed between Te Papa and Circa Theatre as part of the Wellington Sculpture Trust's Four Plinths Project.

Callum Arnold and Neil Pardington's work is on show at the Otago Medical School at Wellington hospital.  Wayne Youle and Jonathan Campbell's work will feature in the upcoming Lovelab project (curated by Melanie Moreau) at JJ Morgan, I shall spit on your grave.  Twenty of Lorene Taurerewa's drawings from the Queensland Art Gallery collection will be exhibited at the same gallery in May.  Last but by no means least, Fiona Pardington is participating in the Sydney Art Biennale in May.  

 

We've extended our opening days to include Tuesday and revised the hours slightly as follows: Tuesday - Friday 1030am - 530pm, and Saturday 1030am - 4pm. 

Publications and Works for Sale pages have been added to the website.  A reminder that all Exhibitions can be viewed online, and that we can ship worldwide.

 

The gallery will not be open tomorrow (Friday 2 April) due to Easter, but will be open Saturday 3 April  from 10:30am - 4pm.

Happy Easter!

Above:  Irene Ferguson Country Singer II Oil on canvas, 2010.
Right:  Fiona Pardington La veuve Lecouffe, Assassin from the collection of Musee de l'Homme, Paris, Pigment inks on hahnemule cotton rag, 2010.  

 

1 April 10

 

Irene & Carlo opening - Douglas @ Hirschfeld - Dizengoff

 

Irene Ferguson's Electric Water opens this Friday (26 March) at 530pm.  Previously represented by the Janne Land gallery, Ferguson was the winner of the 2008 New Zealand Portrait Gallery/Adam Art Award, and is a graduate of the Otago School of Fine Arts and New York Academy of Fine Arts.  A short exhibition essay by Abby Cunnane accompanies the exhibition. 

Also opening on Friday (26 March) at 530pm is Carlo Van de Roer's Portrait Machine Project.  In this series Van de Roer explores the idea that a portrait photograph can reveal an otherwise unseen and accurate insight into the subject's character. Using a Polaroid aura camera developed in the 1970's by an American scientist, Van de Roer has attempted to record what a psychic might see.  Born in Wellington, Van de Roer studied Photography at Victoria University then left New Zealand in 1999, settling ultimately in New York.  This is the first ever exhibition of the Portrait Machine Project.

Further Convictions Pending featuring six paintings by Douglas Stichbury opened on 20 March at the Hirschfeld Gallery (City Gallery) in Wellington.  The works in the exhibition represent a specific moment for each artist - a moment of conviction, fulfilment or pause - these works assume an optimistic outlook for the future.  The show ends on 2 May. 

 

On show for the next few months at Dizengoff café (256 Ponsonby Road) in Auckland are two works by each of Elspeth Shannon and Neil Pardington.  Other works by Suite artists will be installed at Dizengoff in the next few months.

 

New to the gallery last week were several new works on paper by Wayne Youle and a rare Charles F. Goldie photograph.  We've also been consigned an exquisite Goldie painting that is coming to the market for the first time since 1911 when it was acquired by the vendor's grandmother directly from Goldie.  Both Goldie works feature in the upcoming exhibition by Fiona Pardington & Charles F. Goldie, Eros & Agape.  

 

Pictured: Irene Ferguson Screen I Oil on canvas, 710 x 605 mm, 2009.

Pictured:  Installation shot of Elspeth Shannon paintings at Dizengoff cafe on Ponsonby Road.  

 

21 March 10

 

Nature Morte @ Physics Room - Boyce @ CAG - Smither

 

Opening at 530pm on 9 March at the Physics Room in Christchurch is Roger Boyce and Marie-Claire Brehaut’s Nature Morte.  Presented as an abandoned tableau, Nature Morte offers up an unusual scenario that positions the apparatuses of art and artificiality altered states of consciousness in direct collusion.  Described by the artists as ‘an atypical exercise’, Nature Morte draws us away from a simplistic consideration of the finished fine art object derived from the process of painting towards a closer understanding of the constructed artificiality of all representational effects.

 

We’ve had some magnificent artworks arrive at the gallery in the last couple of weeks including a 1975 painting by Michael Smither of his mother, Mary Smither.  "My mother's face turned into a landscape as she got older.  It was a dignified stage before the skin finally began to decay in a rest home." 

 

We’ve also received several new works by Douglas Stichbury ahead of his exhibition at the Hirschfeld Gallery later this month, and two works on paper by Robert Cherry.  

 

Elspeth Shannon's You don't know me yet .... and Glenn Burrell’s Leftovers opened last week.  Many visitors had seen Glenn’s masterpiece 270,000 times smaller than me in the Dominion Post on the morning of the opening, and we were pleasantly surprised that the Sunday Star Times sent a photographer to cover the opening. 

 

We are # 1 on the Newtown Arts Trail and will be open tomorrow during the Newtown Festival - please stop by in you're in the neighbourhood.  

 

Pictured: Roger Boyce & Marie-Claire Brehaut Nature Morte studio shot, 2010

Pictured:  Michael Smither Mother Oil on board, 900 x 630 mm, 1975

 

6 March 10

 

270,000 times smaller than me - Carlo @ AIPAD - Lorene in QLD

 

We're looking forward to the opening of Elspeth Shannon You don't know me yet..... and Glenn Burrell Leftovers this Friday at 530pm.  Shannon's work is renown for its playful social commentary. It highlights the sometimes blurry lines between humans and animals; questioning ideas of identity, progress and rationality.  The You don't know me yet... series addresses another issue:  the relationship between outer appearance and internal structure - it's possible that we have a much closer connection with other living things than we realise.

 

Burrell's unique practice involves the process of painting directly onto objects and once dried peeling the paint off, to leave soft hollow shells of paint.  A frequent finalist in national art awards, Burrell made his television debut last night on TVNZ7's art program The Gravy.  You can watch the full episode by clicking here.

 

Leftovers features (what we understand is) the smallest artwork ever exhibited in New Zealand - a paint skin ant. The artwork titled 270,000 times smaller than me is Burrell's response to an experience at The Museum of Natural History in New York. A set of floor scales at the museum allowed Burrell to compare the weight difference between himself and one ant. "It is an interesting contrast considering that ants occupy the same biomass as humans do on earth."

 

The exhibition following Shannon and Burrell features Irene Ferguson (winner of the 2008 National Portrait Award) and New York based photographer Carlo Van de Roer.  This will be the first time that Carlo's Portrait Machine Project has been exhibited.  Pilot magazine will feature the series during the show at Suite and Los Angeles gallery M+B will be exhibiting the project  in March at The AIPAD photography show in New York.

 

Several new works by Lorene Taurerewa will arrive at the gallery this week following the conclusion of her wonderful exhibition Sleight of Hand at Pataka Museum.  Included are two fantastic charcoal drawings, three paintings and several smaller works on paper.  Twenty of Lorene's drawings from the Queensland Art Gallery collection will be exhibited at the same gallery in May.  The exhibition titled Unnerved:  The New Zealand Project also features work by Fiona Pardington, and will tour to the National Gallery of Victoria in November.

 

Pictured: Glenn Burrell 270,000 times smaller than me Acrylic paint skin, 5 x 5 mm, 2010

Pictured:  Lorene Taurerewa The Case of Nathaniel Dobbin Charcoal on paper, 2300 x 1550 mm, 2009

 

21 February 10

 

Bruce Connew - Shannon - NZs smallest artwork - JJ Morgan

 

We're thrilled to announce that Suite now represents artist and photographer Bruce Connew in New Zealand. Since 1976, Connew has travelled widely, undertaking documentary photography projects around the world. His work is characterised by a driving interest in social/political issues - particularly conflict, dissent, emancipation and struggle.

Connew's most recent series, I Must Behave, examines control, from simple self-restraint to government manipulation, and how it modifies behaviour. It follows on from his 2007 surveillance project, I Saw You, in which from home, veiled behind an apron of black velvet, through double-glazing and a long lens, Connew photographed the comings and goings of a car park on a piece of reclaimed Wellington land. Artist books published by Vapour Momenta Books accompany both series.

Connew's website contains a comprehensive catalogue of works and publications. We already have several works from I Saw You and I Must Behave available for viewing at the gallery, together with many superb selenium-toned silver gelatin prints from Connew's acclaimed Muttonbirds - part of a story and Beyond the Pale, his underground coalminers series. We are privileged to have the opportunity to share Connew's extensive catalogue of work with you, and we look forward to presenting an exhibition of new works in early 2011.

The opening of First Test on 29 January was very well attended and there has been a lot of visitors to the gallery since the show opened. We've had a lot of positive feedback about Roger Boyce and Andrew Topp's paintings; Jennifer Mason's photographs and Peter Trevellyan's beautiful pencil lead sculpture have also been popular with visitors. First Test ends at 5pm on Saturday 20 February.

Congratulations to Elspeth Shannon who has been selected as a finalist in the 2010 NZ Portrait Gallery / Adam Portrait Award. The finalists' works will be on show at the NZ Portrait Gallery from 24 February - 11 April.  Shannon's upcoming exhibition (opening on 26 February) You Don't Know Me Yet ... is previewed in the February edition of NZ House and Garden Magazine.

 

On at the same time is Glenn Burrell's long awaited exhibition Leftovers, which will feature, amongst other things, a full-size paint skin kitchen sink and the smallest artwork ever exhibited in New Zealand - a paint skin ant. There has been a lot of interest in Burrell's work from Australian collectors and galleries and his profile in New Zealand looks certain to soar following Leftovers and his appearance on TVNZ 7's The Gravy at 9:35pm on Saturday 20 February.

 

We're pleased to have lent two of Geoffrey Notman's paintings for the first exhibition at JJMorgan & Co, a new free form working space (Gallery plus studio's) that is self founded by a group of individuals who are dedicated to supporting the development and creative output of artists, designers and curators from New Zealand and abroad. Based at 3 Cruickshank Street in between Kilbirnie and Lyall Bay, Wellington, the exhibition Spreading blankets on the beach (curated by Melanie Moreau) features works by Victoria Birkinshaw, Steve Carr, James R Ford, Maria Hegedus, Peter Miller, Geoffery Notman and Mark Ussher.  The show opens on 14 February and runs until 27 February from 7-9pm Wednesday-Friday and 11am-4pm on Saturdays. 

Pictured: Bruce Connew I Must Behave # 12, Archival pigment print, 2009

Pictured: Bruce Connew Muttonbirds #28, Selenium toned silver gelatin print, 2002 

 

9 February 2010

 

First Test opening - Irene & Wayne in AAC - Happy New year!

 

Happy New year! We're looking forward to reopening at 11am on Wednesday 27 January ahead of the first exhibition of 2010, First Test, which opens at 530pm on Friday 29 January. Most of the artworks for the show have been installed and we expect that there will be a good crowd at the opening given the number of artists. There is a huge variety of works in the show from Peter Trevelyan's delicate graphite sculpture to Jennifer Mason's staged photographs and Roger Boyce's superb paintings. The First Test opening will be supported by ZUMWOHL.

Several Suite artists have been in the press over the last month. Irene Ferguson is profiled in the summer edition of Australian Art Collector and Wayne Youle is featured in ‘Cool Hunter' in the same magazine. Andrea Gardner is profiled in the summer edition of Art Zone and Elspeth Shannon's upcoming exhibition You Don't Know Me Yet ... was noted in Art Monthly Australia.

Two of Geoffrey Notman's paintings will be loaned for an upcoming exhibition at a new exhibition space, J.J. Morgan & Co, at 3 Cruickshank Street in Kilbirnie. Further details about the opening for this show titled Spreading the blankets (curated by Melanie Moreau) will be posted closer to the event.

We received some very good feedback about our newsletter emailed out to the mailing list just before Christmas. We plan to mail out a newsletter each quarter so please join our mailing list if you haven't already to keep up to date. Another new initiative this year will see email invites for exhibitions openings accompanied by a blurb about the show. The 2010 programme includes some exciting exhibitions and we look forward to welcoming new visitors to Suite this year.

 

Pictured: Grant Muir Poneke Rugby I Inkjet and gesso on board, 2009.   

Pictured:  Jennifer Mason Spa Lightjet print, 2009.    

 

23 January 10